Understanding Persistent Identity: How Trust Becomes Something You Can Reuse
Last week, we introduced persistent identity as a new way to carry verified trust across every workflow on the Proof platform. The idea is straightforward. When someone verifies their identity, that verification should not disappear the moment they complete a task. It should remain available, so the next interaction starts with confidence instead of repeated steps.
Today, digital identity rarely works that way. A user verifies themselves to open an account, then again to recover it, then again to make a change, then again to complete a transaction. Each workflow handles identity in its own isolated way. That fragmentation creates friction for users and unnecessary complexity for teams.
Persistent identity solves this by providing one verified identity the platform can recognize and reuse throughout the lifecycle. Users complete fewer repetitive steps. Organizations see a consistent, high-assurance understanding of who is taking action. And every event ties back to something durable rather than a one-time snapshot.
Why repeated verification creates unnecessary friction
Identity systems have long been designed as one-off checkpoints. They confirm who a user is in the moment, authorize the action, and then discard that trust. When the user moves to the next workflow, the process starts over.
This leads to predictable problems:
- Repetition for users. The same captures and checks appear in multiple workflows.
- Inconsistent signals for teams. Each workflow produces its own identity results instead of relying on a shared source of truth.
- Operational overhead. Teams spend time stitching together identity evidence that should already be connected.
Persistent identity removes these resets. Trust established once can be reused safely many times.
How persistent identity works
Persistent identity follows a simple lifecycle: verify once, save it, reuse it.
1. The user completes a high-assurance identity verification
The user goes through Proof’s existing verification flow: ID capture, selfie, and liveness check..
2. The user may opt into saving their verified identity with Proof
After verification, Proof creates a persistent version of the identity, allowing the user to re-verify themselves with MFA and face-scan in their next transaction.
3. When identity is needed again, the user does not start over
Any future workflow that requires identity assurance can reference the persistent identity instead of triggering a full verification.
4. The user completes a lightweight re-authentication step
To confirm that the returning user is the same individual, the platform performs a contextual re-authentication such as:
- a likeness check
- a liveness check
- a quick biometric step-up
- or a low-friction confirmation if risk is minimal
5. The user completes the workflow with the same level of trust
Once authenticated, the user can sign, certify, recover an account, or perform any other action. The assurance level remains high because the process is anchored to the original verified identity.
How this improves workflows across the Proof platform
With a persistent identity in place, different workflows can reference the same trusted identity, which affects many user journeys:
- Signing and notarization: returning users complete fewer steps.
- Transaction certification: Valuable high-frequency actions can be verified quickly.
- Account recovery: users create verifiable identity records over time that result in a more secure account recovery process..
- Support interactions: Instead of relying on ad-hoc verifying questions or low-assurance checks, agents can be confident that they’re supporting a known user.
The result is a more consistent, predictable experience for users and a clearer, more reliable trust model for organizations.
Built with privacy and control in mind
Persistent identity also creates a clearer, more dependable foundation for security and privacy. When high-value actions reference a verified identity rather than a collection of temporary signals, the platform can make more informed decisions about who is taking action. This makes common attack paths, such as relying on stolen credentials, far less effective because the system expects confirmation from the verified user, not just a password or token.
This added assurance does not require collecting more data. It reduces exposure by eliminating repeated identity checks that ask users to resubmit sensitive information. Each re-authentication uses only what is necessary to confirm the user is present, and the user controls when their identity is reused. The result is more confidence in each action, with less friction and a smaller surface area for risk.
Why persistent identity matters
Digital workflows move quickly. Expectations are high. Fraud is sophisticated.Re-verifying the same user over and over is inefficient for everyone involved.
Persistent identity gives organizations a reliable, reusable identity layer that works across workflows. It gives users a smoother experience without lowering security, and teams a clearer, more consistent identity signal to base decisions on.
Identity becomes an asset the platform can carry forward, not a step that resets every time something new happens.
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